At the time of this review I'm yet to hear 'The Suburbs' in full, but this easily trumps what I've heard from that record (although funnily enough, the title track of that one has grown on me recently) as well as the first two records. To me the second half of this album sounds a lot like both 'Funeral' and 'Neon Bible' at times, but sadly it doesn't really stand out with the same bombast as the first half, which to me is absolutely brilliant. Possibly only 'Afterlife' matches the dizzying heights of 'Normal Person', 'Here Comes The Night Time', 'We Exist' and of course the one and only Flekky.

When I heard that this album would have two volumes, I also didn't realise the whole thing would surpass 75 minutes in duration. As such, the whole two-albums-in-one deal will feel very lopsided to me I believe, because the first half is just far superior. So be it I suppose, but thankfully I can say it's not just because of the title track, which to me is one of the year's best tracks. All in all a great album! 5.25

Great album from Arcade Fire. There are many highlights throughout the album, and on a technical level, this is a well produced album. But at the same time, there are a few tracks that drag out a bit, and fail to impress.

Admittedly, I have not heard their previous albums in full (I have heard a few songs), so I can't properly compare this to their previous efforts. But generally overall, this is a really good effort from Arcade Fire.

I'd like to get into Arcade Fire but I find most of their stuff too airy-fairy or too long and drawn out. Most of the tracks on here are ridiculously long and are so slow to do anything that I'm asleep before it gets anywhere near where it wants to go. There are a couple of good ones on here but all in all I was hoping to like and enjoy this more. 3.4/6.